Jack's Little Secret
by skycloud86
Summary: Originally a oneshot, now a multi-chapter pre-S1 story. Mostly NinJa - or JaNina, if you prefer that.
1. The Secret

_**A/N – This isn't really set at any point in time, but it's pre-S1.**_

Jack was sat at his desk, busily typing away. It was a quiet day at CTU, and he knew that Nina and Tony wouldn't be back from the meeting for some time. Stopping his manic keyboard bashing for a minute, he glanced at the screen and smiled. His work was coming along well, and he knew that it would be well received. The only problem was that, due to his being engrossed in his work, he hadn't noticed Tony and Nina walk into CTU early. He also didn't notice Nina walking up the stairs to his office. It was only when Nina's head popped up above his monitor that he was brought back to reality.

"Hi, Jack. The meeting finished early," Nina spoke, before noticing that she had spooked him somewhat. Grinning as she walked around to Jack's side, she tried to sneak a peek at the screen.

"Oh, that's good," Jack replied as he hastily tried to shut down the document he had been working on.

"What have you been doing, Jack?," Nina asked playfully and as Jack tried to come up with a good enough excuse, Nina grabbed the mouse off of him and brought the document back up.

"Hey! What if that was classified?," Jack protested, but they both knew Jack wouldn't be embarrassed if it had been official CTU material. Nina started to read, before dissolving into fits of laughter.

"What's this? Harry Potter fanfiction?," Nina giggled as she read the title. The first paragraph sent her into hysterics, much to Jack's bemusement.

"Hey, not so loud!," Jack whispered, seemingly oblivious to the fact that not even Nina's laughter could get through the soundproofed walls.

"John Bower? That's so obviously a Gary Stu!," Nina told Jack, before her usually porcelain white face turned red. Jack chuckled and looked up at Nina.

"Gary Stu? May I ask what fanfiction you've written, Ms Myers?," Jack asked, grinning up at Nina.

"If I don't tell everyone about yours, promise you won't tell everyone about mine?," Nina enquired, and Jack replied with a nod.

"OK, I promise. What's yours?," Jack asked her, somewhat glad that Nina understood his fanfiction writing passion. Teri had liked his stories but hadn't read the books, whilst Kim had loved them, but had made Jack swear never to show them to anyone outside of the family, in order to avoid embarrassment.

"I write fanfiction for ER," Nina admitted. It had been a cold night one November when she had been watching an episode of the programme, and she had been on the Internet soon after. She didn't remember how she had got to ER fanfiction, but for the rest of that otherwise uneventful Friday night, she had read many different fanfics, and had soon attempted to write one herself.

"ER, eh? Whos your Mary Sue?," Jack grinned. He knew that Nina would have to have such a character in her fanfiction.

"A doctor called Nina Byers," Nina admitted. She had never used her real name when writing her fanfiction, so it was easy enough to user her first name and a surname similar to her own.

Later that night, and Nina was in her house, snuggled under a warm duvet and finishing off her latest work. Suddenly, an email appeared, and she was pleased to see yet another review. It was apparent to Nina that her work was very much in demand on the Internet, and as she read the review – which was very glowing – she recognized the reviewer. John bower, it seemed, was not just a Gary Stu, he was also an avid reader of her work.


	2. The Code

It was complete. A 10 chapter House/Harry Potter crossover fanfiction had been written by Jack and Nina, and all that was left was to upload it to the fanfiction site. Each chapter had been written by them both, and there had been quite a few disputes over plot and dialogue. As they often did their fanfiction writing during lunch, CTU was rife with gossip as to what the pair were doing up in Jack's office.

"I'm surprised that we could even come up with a coherent plot for that crossover!," Jack commented as they uploaded the fanfiction. Nina smirked at the remark.

"I think the other employees of CTU may be talking about another kind of crossover," Nina chuckled as she stole a quick glance out of the glass wall. Noticing Chappelle walking into CTU and heading straight for the stirs which led to Jack's office, Nina grabbed a file and pretended to be discussing the contents of the file with Jack. As Chappelle let himself into the office, he examined the two agents closely.

"Jack, Nina. I have information which concerns the both of you," Chappelle said, his rodent-like eyes never leaving the pair.

"Us? As in us as agents, or us as Special Agent in Charge and Chief of Staff?," Jack enquired.

"Both, neither, as private citizens for all I care. There's a problem that needs solving, and I have assured District that you two are the agents for the job," Chappelle replied.

"What is this problem?," Nina asked, trying not to look too bored. It was most likely some dull little surveillance mission or, even worse, something that required hours of paperwork.

"You'll find all the information you need in this file," Chappelle responded as he handed over a manila folder to Nina. Bidding the two agents goodbye, Chappelle turned and walked briskly out of the office as Jack and Nina watched him. Turning their attention to the manila folder, Nina pulled out a thin document. It was a simplistic leaflet, an A4 document barely 50 pages long that had a plain white cover that had a CTU logo watermark and, in bid red letters at the top, the words TOP SECRET – CONFIDENTIAL stamped on.

A few days later, and Jack and Nina were in a hotel room that gave them a great view of Seattle, where they were to get in touch with an informant from one of the major domestic terrorist groups that were considered a huge threat to national security. The weather was gorgeous, but the pair had to stay in their hotel room. This was made easier by telling the hotel staff that they were on their honeymoon as a newlywed couple.

"Nina, look at this, we have new reviews for our crossover fic," Jack said, his eyes and face showing confusion. Nina, who was somewhat annoyed and sick of the boredom, rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Jack, we're not here to have our writing critiqued," she replied. Jack simply guestured for her to have a look.

"It's in some sort of foreign language," Jack said. Although fluent in Spanish, Russian and Serbian, Jack was otherwise not a great student of languages. This was in great contrast to Nina, who spoke Serbian, German, Arabic, Italian, French, Russian and Spanish.

"That's no language, Jack," Nina replied as she scanned the review. Taking her cell out of her pocket, she dialled a number.

Back at CTU, the workers were enjoying the more relaxed atmosphere that had formed since Jack and Nina had left for Seattle. Jamey was laid back in her chair and nearly fell back with surprise as the phone rang. Grabbing the phone and answering with her surname, she rolled her eyes as she heard Nina's voice.

"Jamey, I'm sending you an email containing a code, and I need you to decipher what the code is telling us," Nina explained. She was highly confident that Jamey Farrell would easily be able to crack the code. As Jamey opened up the email and examined the code, she replied back to Nina.

"Sure, Nina. I'll call you back as soon as I get something,".


	3. The Informant

_**A/N – Thinking about changing the name of this fic to better reflect the new direction and plot of the story, although fanfiction will be mentioned in the final chapter so the original plot isn't going to be discarded entirely. Any suggestions are welcome (there's at least one more chapter to go after this one).**_

The wait was longer than expected, and it took a few rings from Nina's cell to wake the pair up. Rubbing her eyes before grabbing her phone, she answered hoping that Jamey would have good news.

"I did it," Jamey spoke, her voice smug – Nina assumed that Milo was within earshot.

"What does the code say?," Nina enquired, and a small part of her began to worry that it had nothing to do with their informant at all.

"Well, your informant may be a bit of a junkie for all things Nazi, Nina. They used the Enigma code from the Second World War.," Jamey revealed.

"And the message?," Nina enquired, eager to get on with the mission.

"An address in Seattle, 1809 7th Avenue," Jamey replied, as Nina wrote down the address on a stray piece of paper before giving it to Jack, who looked up the address in the CTU database.

"Thanks, Jamey," Nina said, before hanging up. Turning to look at Jack's laptop, she and Jack were able to see the face of their informant, one Chase McNichol, a notorious white nationalist from Montana, who had committed a string of offences across the western seaboard.

Pulling up in front of the address, the pair examined the building. It was perched near a junction of two fairly busy roads, and the crowds of people looked especially daunting as the workers of Seattle rushed home after a more typical Friday than the one Nina and Jack were having. Managing to make their way through the human flood, they knocked on the door. A few minutes passed before the door slowly opened, to reveal McNichol. Looking around a few times like a crazed paranoiac, he gestured to the agents to come in. Turning his back to them, Nina noticed the handgun tucked in the back of McNichol's pants, and silently pointed it out to Jack. They didn't consider McNichol to be much of a threat, but if he was carrying a gun around with him, chances were he not only knew how to use it, but was willing to kill.

"I quite liked your fanfiction, agents," McNichol commented as he slumped into what could only be described as an ancient sofa. Taking a swig from a mug placed on a nearby coffee table, he examined the two agents. As a white nationalist, he was glad that the two agents were both white, but he was clever enough to know that they, and most of society, found him odious. He wondered if his conscience was finally strong enough to give him a sense of reality, and that by grasping onto it, he had started to see just how foolish his beliefs were.

"You have information for us, McNichol?," Jack asked, not in the mood to chit chat. He looked at the racist with emotionless eyes, ready to grab his gun in a split second if the worm even thought of using his.

"Yeah," McNichol said, reaching for a CD case that was placed next to the mug. Chucking it over to Jack, he explained the contents.

"Names, dates, places, whatever information you need, it's on there," McNichol remarked, a smile growing on his face. Jack muttered a thanks as the two agents stood up and walked out of the building. The crowds were beginning to thin out, and the journey through them was much easier this time around. As they were about to climb into the car, shots rang out from inside McNichols place. Jack and Nina pushed their way through the panicked commuters and rushed back into the building. Startling a masked and armed figure, Jack shot him in the leg as Nina hurried over to McNichol. Grabbing the attacker and taking his gun off of him, Jack slapped handcuffs on the guy before turning to Nina.

"Jack, he's dead," Nina spoke as she felt in vain for a pulse.

CTU Seattle was nothing like CTU Los Angeles. It was much smaller, and obviously didn't have the same budget, resources or problems as CTULA. As Jack handed over the now unmasked assassin, a young woman came up to the two agents.

"Hello Agent Bauer, Agent Myers, I'm Karen Morrison, you spoke to me on the phone. You said you have some information?," she asked, before Nina passed her the CD.

"It's all on there, Karen," Nina said. Nodding, Karen took a quick glance at the CD before returning to her station.

"Come on, lets see if they can get anything out of this son of a bitch," Jack spoke, before heading towards where the guards had taken the prisoner. Entering the surveillance room, they watched as young but tough CTU agent interrogated the man.

"We know who you, what groups you're a member of. We know why you killed McNichol, so make things easier on yourself. What was your motive?," the agent almost yelled at the guy. Tall, lean and with a pockmarked face that framed tired hazel eyes and an aquiline nose, the man simply looked at the agent. It was obvious that the man had no intention of talking, and seemed to be quite willing to sit there for hours. After the agent had repeated his question numerous times, with the occasional threat of torture, he decided to give himself a break. Entering the surveillance room, he leaned against the mirror, not willing to look at the man who had pissed him off.

"He's not saying anything but, hell, we have enough evidence anyway, so he can continue this act all the way to the execution chamber for all I care," the agent commented. Jack, who had been conversing with Nina, turned to face the agent, but something else caught his eye.

"Son of a bitch!," Jack shouted as he saw the prisoner convulsing. As the trio rushed in, the men's face turned cherry red, and began foaming at the mouth. Nothing could be done, and as the man drew his last breath, Jack sniffed close to the man's face.

"Cyanide," he announced. He looked at the prisoner and wondered just how much information the man had in his possession. It was beginning to look like McNichol's death was an hit, ordered by some powerful gang leader. As if things couldn't get worse, Karen rushed into the room, her eyes at first locking onto the dead man, before flying over to look at the three agents.

"I've got bad news. The CD, it's blank," she spoke, holding up the CD.


	4. The Puzzle

Jack, Nina and a couple of CTUS agents were busy tearing apart the home of the late Chase McNichol, hunting for any clue as to who ordered the hit or even the information McNichol was planning to give them. They assumed that McNichol didn't know of the switch, and they also assumed that whoever had him killed was not going to leave much evidence behind. Looking behind a bookcase, one of the Seattle agents, a man called Alan Gordon, shouted to the others that he had found something. Pulling the bookcase away from the wall, they found a brown envelope taped to the wall. As Alan pulled out a few pieces of paper, Nina noticed what was on the papers.

"I'll call Jamey, she knows how to crack this code," Nina spoke as she dialled the number. "Alan, get those papers back to CTU as soon as possible, we need to scan them and send them over to Agent Farrell at CTU Los Angeles," she instructed the agent, who nodded before briskly making for the front door.

"This has been one mess after another," Jack said, his eyes exploring the room. It was spartan, with drab décor and looked more like the home of an elderly man rather than a young one. Sitting down on the couch were McNichol had died just hours before, he sighed and rested his head in his hands. He knew that they were probably going to be in Seattle for days, and Jack couldn't help but worry about Teri and Kim. He ha promised them that he would spend some time with them at the weekend, as a family, but that was pretty much out of the question. Nina joined him on the sofa, and looked at him. Nina was not the type to want a family and a suburban house, nor was she particularly close to any of her family, most of whom lived in Boston on the other side of the country.

"Maybe this latest message will be nothing, and it's our only lead. Our informant's dead, so we're pretty much done here anyway," Nina said.

As Nina, Jack and the other agents returned to CTU, the SAIC Karen Morrison was busy talking on the phone. Noticing the pair, she quickly ended her conversation and walked towards them.

"I've just been on the phone with our head field agent, and apparently we received information about a suspect who is being brought to CTU for questioning. He was apparently seen loitering outside Mr McNichol's house around the time of the shooting," Karen explained.

"I doubt he's connected in any way, Karen. We caught the suspect in the act," Jack replied.

"Well, he's been identified as a member of the same militia that McNichol was part of back in the 1990s. He may have been a lookout for the shooter," Karen explained.

Jamey was puzzled. Although the code used was the same, the message didn't make sense. She had searched for any clue as to the meaning of this latest communique, but her efforts went unrewarded. Cursing under her breath, she picked up the phone and dialled Nina's number.

"Nina, it's Jamey. I've got the message, but I have no idea what it says," Jamey spoke, staring at the message. She hated not being able to solve the problem, and wondered whether the message was going to be of any use to anyone.

"Send it over to Karen Morrison at Seattle CTU, we'll have a look at it here," Nina replied. Waiting for the email to come through, Nina considered the first message. It had been clear, simple to work out after you'd cracked the code, but this one was more of a puzzle, even if it was using the same code.

"Could someone be playing games with us?," she asked Jack.

"How do you mean?," Jack replied, slightly annoyed at the possibility.

"Someone knew that we received the first message, and someone knew that we were going to search McNichol's place," Nina spoke, before she started to look around the office. It didn't take Jack long to work out why.

"You think there's someone passing information?," Jack asked.

"That suspect they're bringing in, we need to talk to him," Nina replied, before the pair headed towards the holding rooms. Minutes later, the suspect was brought past them in shackles. Short, thin and with a shaved head and angry grey eyes, the suspect looked more like a racist teenager than a racist militia member. Jack followed the guards in with the suspect, having asked to do the interrogation. Tired, he started almost immediately.

"Chase McNichol," Jack spoke as he stood in front of the suspect, staring intently at his eyes. The man looked tough, but Jack was tougher.

"Mr Woods, we know all about you," Jack spoke again, emphasising the man's last name, but Woods didn't so much as move his eyes. Jack slammed his hand down onto the table hard, and Woods flinched. The grin on Jack's face was as immediate as the redness that appeared on Woods' face.

"You know anything about the code? What does the message say?," Jack asked, raising his voice slightly. He had managed to scare Woods a bit, and that meant he had gotten to Woods. It was only a matter of time.

"I want a lawyer!," Woods spoke quietly and quickly.

"You're not getting a lawyer! You will tell me what I want to know, or suffer the consequences!," Jack yelled at him.

"But I don't know..," Woods started to speak, before Jack backhanded him across the face.

"No, you DO know, and I want every last detail!," Jack snarled. Woods looked terrified, and for a moment or two seemed to be contemplating whether or not to comply.

"I want protection, and you need to get me out of here," Woods spoke quietly, almost whispering. Jack moved closer, anticipating answers.

"They have someone here, inside CTU, and they know I'm in here. I'll give you the name when I'm out of the building," Woods spoke, his voice becoming ever more fearful.

"Fine, I'll arrange transport to Division, but you better not be messing me around," Jack replied, before leaving the room.

"You believe him?," Karen said as Jack entered the surveillance room.

"He's got no reason to lie. I think you should order a lockdown," Jack replied. Karen picked up the phone. Minutes later, an alarm could be heard.

"I'd better go and inform the other agents," Karen spoke, before leaving Jack and Nina alone in the room. Minutes later, gunshots shattered the silence. Running into the main bullpen area, guns drawn, Jack and Nina saw a crowd massing around a dead body. Seeing the now deceased Karen Morrison on the floor, Jack looked around.

"Where's the shooter?," he asked a nearby agent.

"We don't know," the agent replied, to Jack's disbelief.

"You don't know!?," he replied angrily. How could noone have seen where the shooter had gone ina crowded office during a lockdown.

"That's just it, noone saw the shooter," the agent replied. Jack, however, was not listening. He was looking at the body intently.

"Jack? What is it?," Nina asked, puzzled.

"The shooter wasn't seen because they weren't in the building! A sniper shot her," Jack replied, tracing the path of the bullet back to a window, where there was two bullet holes. With three dead bodies in one day, it was looking like a long mission for the two agents.


End file.
